Disclaimer: I do not own 'Young Justice'
'Check Yes, Juliet' Part III
by Song six
.
It was a Sunday night, but not just any Sunday night: It's been three hundred and sixty five days since the night he extended the waiting time.
Throughout that whole year since that day, the Boy Wonder had been undergoing changes he never thought would come. His voice started cracking multiple pitches, he started getting hair in the weirdest places, he smells and sweats a lot, he suddenly could meet eye to eye with the girls, and his torso became wider while his muscles became fairly larger. For awhile, he got very self conscience of his sudden weight gain and was very moody and very depressed. One minute he was happily talking to Miss Martian, the next he's yelling at her accusing the poor girl of trying to make him fat with her horrid brownies. One moment, Bruce is telling him he did a good job on capturing Harley Quinn and he's content, the next he's screaming at him for using a 'tone' and not really meaning what he said. In short, his emotions have been going wild…
…but his emotions have been making more sense as well.
In class, he'll struggle to pay attention with a certain somebody on mind. On missions, he'll keep a careful eye on them. In the morning, he'll think of them, and at night, he'll dream of them. That fluttery sensation he's always gotten from them, the feeling of being whole…just being able to sit with them in silence and feel comfortable, but there's never silence because they can always talk about everything. It made sense now, but the problem was:
Did Wally even remember anymore?
How it felt to talk on the phone all night? How it felt to intertwine their fingers and feel right? How it felt to carry him around everywhere? How it felt to be standing in the pouring rain at night just to see him? How it felt to see him in the arms of someone else and being kissed by them? How it felt to feel anything for him at all? Because Robin remembers all the time now, and he can't stop wondering 'what if'.
Especially ever since, Wally got into that relationship with Artemis the night of the fundraiser one year ago today. And they've been together up until just a few days ago.
Normally, Robin didn't care at all, if Wally dated other people or flirted with them, but since that day, suddenly it bothered him. It bothered him the same way it got to him just a smidge when he chatted up the waitress at the pizza parlor the night they snuck out, only times a thousand. Maybe, it was because with Artemis there was an actual connection like theirs? Maybe, it was because with Artemis you feel the tension just like theirs? Maybe, it was because Artemis who tipped Kid Flash off about Huntress, and they lasted for a full year. Whatever the reason was, thinking about how they were in a serious relationship made his chest throb. It was like a burning sensation, a sickly feeling inside. He wasn't sure what it was.
Either way, it's been three hundred and sixty five days; Kid Flash has shown no signs of remembering what today was. Unfortunately, Dick had to accept it to be that way. He was the one who said he needed more time to figure things out. But then again, maybe they just weren't right for each other if Wally had been the one to still find it in himself to see other people.
Kind to think of it, all these crazy things he was feeling, it could all just be a product of hormones. Yeah…they just…they just weren't meant to be.
"Robin, how is the lock going?" Aqualad asked as he kept watch for anyone watching. They were on a covert mission breaking into an abandoned laboratory for top secret information. But it wasn't just any laboratory…
"Five more seconds and…we're in. Ivo has nothing on me."…it was past owned by their best friend and Conner's favorite villain: Professor Ivo. There is belief by the Justice League that he had developed an immortality serum, and it was up to them to find out what they could on the possibly existing substance.
After a few confirmation clicks from the mechanical door, there was a release of steam and the team was in. "Alright, you know your duties. Move out." Aqualad commanded, and they all followed orders to their posts, but one member had strayed behind.
"Hey Aqualad?" The youngest of the team.
"Yes, Robin?" He had a tense look on his face, and even with the black and white domino mask, it was easy to see the concerned expression.
"Is it so smart to pair off 'Ryan Reynolds' and 'Scarlett Johansson' together?" he asked, yanking a thumb towards the said two teammates. Aqualad resisted every urge to groan in irritation. He actually did not take into consideration how the two fiery teens could get, but he'd just have to trust over the years they've changed.
Putting a firm grip on Robin's shoulder with a confident firm line of the mouth he responded, "You need to hack into the system, and Superboy is your muscle. Both Miss Martian and I are needed out here. Kid and Artemis will simply have to leave their personal business out of the mission. But I am sure they can get over their petty problems. Thank you for your concern Robin."
The young boy, no, the young teen nodded his head accepting the explanation and answer, "Alright, I'm moving out now." And with that he dashed off into the darkness with Superboy following behind after coming back to find him.
They were supposed to head to the very top of the building going up many flights of stairs to the main computer room. As they climbed higher and higher the walls and floors just got mustier and darker, and the red light emitted from the few remaining lamps did not help. Each step creaked with each stomp of their boots, and the railing was shaky. Needless to say, it was a very old building that appeared it would collapse just from someone looking at the rusty structure.
When they reached the large double doors at the top of the stairs, Robin pulled a cord from his holo-computer and plugged it into the keypad. After typing in a few codes and disabling a few firewalls here and there the doors slid open with ease. The two teens ran inside and took their stations. Superboy stayed on alert as Robin sat down in the dusty metal chair and worked his magic on the large keyboard before him. Cobwebs were hanging from all over the place, and the rubber tiled floor showed signs of wear and tear.
The giant monitor took a few moments to flicker on; it's been awhile since anyone's used the high tech equipment. Robin snickered to himself as he easily went through a hundred files in a matter of minutes. The older boy watched with attentiveness.
"Did you find anything?" he asked, shifting his eyes all around looking out for any movement. So far, the only other sources of heat he could sense were of Miss Martian flying overhead above the roof; otherwise, the coast seemed clear.
"Not yet…I found the blue prints for the M.O.N.Q.I's we bumped into years ago." His voice went into that deep mischievous tone Conner just loathed. He knew there would always be trouble guaranteed to come whenever Robin got that way.
Superboy cocked an eyebrow and responded in a warning voice, "You're not saving them to your wrist thing are you?" Robin cackled at him.
"Holo-computer," the hacker corrected, "and of course not Supey. I know how you feel about them." LIES! Conner growled knowing Robin was never one to pass up a good joke.
"Don't make me–" he started, but there was a sudden disturbance, and his chest tightened in alarm"–did you hear that?"
Robin looked up at him and cocked his head before sarcastically saying, "Yes, because we all have super hearing."
But he should have known better then to get too comfortable. Superboy's eyes widened as his senses went wild and jumped on Robin covering the boy's whole boy with his own. "GET DOWN!" he yelled, but it was unheard as the keyboard exploded in a million pieces of keys and plastic.
"Where did that come from?" Robin groaned as he climbed out from underneath the large clone. As his vision came back into focus, his heart stopped when he saw what was on the monitor screen. Superboy got up as well and in a low voice cursed to himself.
Those beady dark eyes, bushy eyebrows, giant creepy grin, and side patches of silver hair, "Well…well…well. It would seem someone has broken into my facilities." Professor Ivo.
"A video message?" Superboy questioned Robin, and the young boy simply nodded as he watched in horror feeling his heart beat fast. This was not good. Not good at all.
The man gave off a giant toothy grin chuckling softly to himself with an unusual sparkle in his eye, "Such a shame, these laboratories always takes such an incredible amount of time to build. Luckily, it only takes such a short time to blow them up. Say bye-bye you naughty intruders." He called, waving his hand and the monitor shook violently then combusting into flames exploding just as the keyboard did.
"We need to get out, now!" Robin told Superboy in a great fluster. But they needed to get out of there fast. So Conner was just going to have the smaller teen climb on him and they would get out of there in a mad dash but…
"Just climb on my–WHOA!"…the floor collapsed beneath Superboy, and Robin swooped away just in time to not fall through as well. The clone may be able to survive a great fall, but he wouldn't have. The metal beams underneath them appeared to have been blown up causing the floor to give out. On that note, the ceiling, the walls, everything was falling apart in a fury of fire and sparks. Everything was self destructing.
"Superboy!" he shouted after as the boy disappeared into darkness, "Superboy!" But to his luck no response, the clone was still getting used to flying. He needed to be able to concentrate and focus, but right now was not one of those times he would be able to do so. And since he couldn't just fly up and get the younger teen, Robin was trapped as he had to figure out a way out. His grappling hook wasn't long enough to bring him to the bottom; everything was exploding right and left. He needed to plan this out carefully, he needed to–
"Oh geez!" –the whole floor fell apart beneath him, and he brutally crashed onto a pile of debris, but on top of him was another metal beam pressing into his body. He felt a crack in his side, and could hear it too with an excruciatingly painful snap. He wheezed heavily as he coughed up a bit of blood in his only free hand. Robin was trapped.
"Robin!" Superboy screamed, as he crashed through the many floors of the destructing building, the wood and metal ripping into his back slicing it up with his shirt.
Artemis stalked around the shadows carefully keeping watch of anything or anyone, "Do you hear something?" She asked in a whisper to her fellow teammate.
However, he was making it very difficult for her to work with, "Aside from your annoying voice? Nope." This was his only response all night since they arrived at the scene. Apparently, munching on his candy bar was far more important than communicating with the person he had been partnered with.
"Excuse me?" she sneered not liking the attitude
"What?" he huffed, mouth full of nougat and chocolate. He didn't feel obligated to talk to her; all he knew was that he just had to make sure no one was going to ambush them suddenly. That was his only orders. He wasn't told to speak a single word to the girl…even if it is a given when you work with someone but big deal. He wasn't in the mood, today was not his day, and he knew it wouldn't be for awhile.
"Can you get over yourself while we're on a mission?" the blonde grunted at him still slithering carefully around the floor, arrow ready to shoot. She wasn't taking any chances tonight. Especially if Kid Languish was going to sit there and brood.
Said boy tapped a finger to his chin in mock though before replying, "No, I don't think I can. Can you?" That was the last straw; she took her bow and slammed it on the table by him taking the teen by surprise.
"Why are you even acting this way?" she screeched at him wanting answers.
But in a cold bitter voice, he answered her, "What do you think?" The teen didn't even bother to look at her; he still kept his gaze on the saliva covered candy bar in his hands.
Artemis gaped at him shocked at his behavior, "Seriously? Right now? We're supposed to be looking for anything suspicious and you're acting like a child." She seethed at him, but he had little to no reaction to her anger.
"You know? It was always really annoying whenever you said I was acting like a kid." He commented nonchalantly, he took his last bite from the candy bar, and then he pulled out a bag of potato chips.
"Because you do act like a kid, Kid!" she yelled, but he was still un-moving, "Come on, you even agreed something felt different."
He slipped a few chips in his mouth, chewed slowly, and then swallowed before responding shortly and simply, "Yeah, I know." That really pissed her off.
"Then why are you acting like an ass?" Artemis demanded to know, now paying absolutely no attention to the mission. She was currently missing the screaming and crashes from above them as the clone continued to fall like a giant heavy boulder.
"I'm not."
She slapped her forehead before muttering loud enough for him to hear, "Yes you are, and I don't deserve this."
"No I'm…" he started, finally turning to look at her, but when he saw her grey shiny eyes, full of frustration, he felt no anger, "I am. And you're right." He dropped his bag of chips leaving them abandoned on the floor. For the first time ever, he wasn't hungry anymore.
"Yes you…wait, did you just admit that you were being an ass? And that I didn't deserve this?" she was shocked, and all her anger was gone.
He sighed looking out to the dark blue sky, before giving a short, "Yep."
It then dawned on Artemis that there was definitely something on his mind, but not what she originally thought, "Kid, Is there something you're not telling me?" She asked sincere and concerned.
He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but then chose not to. In a soft voice, he told her, "It's nothing."
"if you want to talk about it I'm always–" but then it clicked back into her mind they were on a mission when the ceiling above them shook and cracked " –the floor above us is collapsing! Move!" She yelled shoving Kid Flash out of the way.
The speedster shook his head as he realized Artemis just saved his life. "Oh shit!" he cried when another beam was about to hit them, but he picked her up and sped her across the room just in time.
More beams begun to fall and crash into the ground as dust filled the air and explosions could be heard, "Oh my god, what's going on up there?" Artemis yelled above the ruckus.
She was met with an answer when a familiar dark haired muscled teen came hurling into the concrete floor creating a great crater, "Superboy?" Rock and debris flew in all directions, and the smaller teens were careful to dodge them as they got up to check on their fallen comrade.
"Supey? What are you doing down here? You're supposed to be protecting Rob!" Kid Flash cried, seeing the clone was fine, getting up rubbing his head. At least Artemis noticed his torn up bleeding back.
"I know that…" Superboy groaned, worry and guilt in his voice "…and he's stuck up there alone. There was an explosion, I fell through the hole, and this whole building is coming down." He buried his face in his hands feeling terrible for leaving Robin alone. He was supposed to be his muscle.
But it wasn't enough for Kid Flash to just feel bad, "You left him alone?" He yelled at Superboy getting in his face, waving his arms in the air frantically.
"It wasn't by choice." Superboy managed to ground out feeling awful enough.
Artemis yanked the speedster away from his forcibly, "Lay off Kid, I doubt Superboy would leave Robin in immediate danger on purpose." She told him in a reprimanding tone, but he didn't care and wasn't paying attention to the other two anymore. He clicked the button on the device attached to his ear hurriedly.
"Hello? Robin?" he spoke impatiently, but when there was no response he took his ear piece and slammed it on the ground angrily, "The comm-links' down." He seethed breathing heavily, heart beating fast, as his muscles tensed up all over. Everything he was feeling tonight combined with this got his blood rushing, driving him up the wall.
He slammed a fist into a wooden board breaking it in half, "Why isn't Miss M hooking us up?"
Artemis put a hand on his arm in an attempt to calm him down, but he shrugged it away, "She probably has no idea! We just need to get out of here, and fast!" She tried to tell him, but it was clear he wasn't going to listen. So as long as his best friend was up there alone, and no one was there to help he wasn't going to stand by and leave it that way.
"But what about Robin?" he demanded to know from her, his eyes filled with rage and insult that she would even suggest to leave him behind.
She had to back up, she had never seen the speedster so enraged, "Kid, we need to get out now before we get crushed. He's the most experienced and he's grown over the year, he'll get out." Her voice was cool and collected as she tried to reason with the teen. Even Superboy was a bit frightened at Kid Flash's state of anger, this was the first time the red head had ever appear so…so…furious. He's seen him ecstatic, happy, bored, sad, irritated, mad, but never this pure hateful anger. It was strange seeing the normally light hearted teen carrying such an expression. As he realized how bad the speedster was getting, he opted to help convince him with Artemis not leaving the blonde to stand on her own against him.
"She's right, there's no way we'd have enough time to get up those stairs to get him." He explained, but Kid Flash shook his head clenching his fists.
"No way! I have to make sure he's ok!" now there was something different in his eyes. His green eyes that were easy to read: determination. With that, he ran off.
"Kid come–" Artemis called, but he was already gone and up the collapsing flights of stairs "–back…"
Superboy grabbed her forearm pulling her away before another pile of debris fell, "We need to get out now and tell Aqualad and Miss Martian if it hasn't been made clear on the outside."
Artemis nodded at him and followed behind as he ran out, but not without whispering to no one, "Please make it out Wally." She still cared. And of course, she did even if the two of them had decided to break it off. Her feelings was never the problem with the relationship, she always felt something for the red head. It was just…it was never her. It was always…
"Robin!"
…him.
With every step he took, the stair would disappear with the rest of the falling building. Everything around him was busting into flames and being torn to bits. The air was filled with flying dust and sparks; luckily, he had his goggles to protect his eyes. He was probably the only one in the team that would be able to run up these collapsing stairs without falling. His feet were like feathery touches at the speed he was going, and he was going all out. He had to; this wasn't just anyone's life on the line. It was his best friend. It was Dick.
"Rob! Rob! Where are you?" he shouted as he neared the top. He looked around frantically dodging every fiery piece of building. The blood rushing in him, the adrenaline kept him moving at a pace even he didn't think was possible for his normal range. Finally, he spotted out a familiar spot of red and yellow buried beneath rubble across from him.
"ROB?" he called, and watched that small head of black hair turned towards him
He coughed a bit, and specks of blood sprayed out, a weak voice called back to him, "KF?" Seeing Robin this way, it almost broke him. Fear filled him as he wondered how he was going to get the young teen out of this mess. He had to by any means possible. His head pounded as he tried to think of different ideas all at once.
"Rob!" he moved to the left in time as the floor gave out beneath him, "Stay right there!"
"Not like I have anywhere else to go!" the young teen managed to yell out, Robin could still keep up with the jokes and banter even in a life or death situation. That somehow soothed Wally and brought a smile to his face.
"Hold on!" he told Robin. He looked around; he had to find a way to get over to the other boy's side. But the only path to him was a single shaking metal beam connecting their two edges of the falling room. He couldn't just run across and risk tripping, he'll have to balance himself out and climb over carefully. But they didn't call him Kid Klutz for nothing…they didn't call him a lot of cheap shots at his name for nothing.
Robin tried to keep his eyes open, but everything all over his body throbbed including his eyeballs. It hurt to keep his lids open, but he had to make sure his best friend was doing ok too. But when his vision finally went into focus his heart stopped watching Wally try to make his way across the metal beam that threatened to fall.
"Are you crazy?" he shouted at him waving the arm that was not covered with rubble.
Kid Flash grinned at him as he quickened his pace across, fire shooting up from all around him. One burst of flames caught him by surprise causing him to slip, but he managed to grab the edge of the metal and climb back on. His whole body shook as he tried to level himself out and stand back up, but he made it. Four more…three more…two more…one more step and he was safely on the other side kneeling down by the Boy Wonder, "If it saves your ass." He cooed, Robin had to roll his eyes at him.
Kid Flash laughed at him, but when he started to dig him out there was a giant metal beam right on top of him. He tried to lift the thing with all his might until his knees gave out and his knuckles turned white. It was not use, "I can't lift it. It's too heavy." He apologized, green eyes filled with hopelessness. Robin couldn't stand to see him look this way, even if it was for his sake.
"Just go, before you get crushed too!" He ordered him, but Kid Flash bit his lip and shook his head furiously. He took Robin's visible black gloved hand and squeezed it hard with his red gloved one.
"No! I'm not leaving without you!" he insisted, if it were up to him he'd rather stay here and die with the young teen. If it were up to Robin, he'd be out of here now because it'd be stupid for him to stay according to his logic.
Robin closed his eyes whispering in a defeated voice, "We can't lift this alone though."
Wally furrowed his eyebrows thinking. He looked around, trying to see if anything around could help them. But he saw nothing but fire, explosions, and rubble. It seemed impossible, it felt impossible. He looked back to Robin, and his whole heart dropped. His mask was slightly torn, he had bruises all over, his lip was cracked and caked, and his nose dribbled blood…
His nose dribbled blood…
His nose bled…
Bleeding nose…
"Wait! I have an idea!" he yelled getting an epiphany.
"Do you want to crush me even more? What are you doing?" He got on top of the metal beam on Robin, and the other boy cocked an eyebrow. What in the name of Batman was Wally doing now? This better not be some romantic gushy move to die together in a mass of fire and flames, because if it is Robin swore in their second life he was going to–
"I'm going to vibrate us out of here!" Wally explained to him, hugging what he could of Robin's torso to his own wrapping his arms around his body.
"What? But you can't–"Green eyes glittered with confidence, and Robin knew at that moment he could trust him "–ok."
Wally looked all around him checking out the scene. If he did this right, he could vibrate the both of them thought the rubble and floor. Then he just had to angle them into the holes Superboy already made. They would free fall towards the ground, and when they got close enough than Robin could use his grappling hook to save them both from crashing into a disgusting gruesome mess. He gulped and swallowed hard at the thought, but they're superheroes. They've faced death defying situations all the time. He just had to concentrate. He could do this. No bloody noses, just go through. Just concentrate!
"Ready? Hold on to me tight! We're gonna free fall if I do this!" He told Robin
Robin smiled at him with full support, "Ready!" Wally smiled back feeling good.
He shut his eyes, and so did Robin, "Three!" He started to vibrate his molecules…
Faster and Faster… "Two!"…faster…he needed to get faster NOW…
…FASTER, "ONE!" …their bodies buzzed and blended and they screamed as they fell through and…
…Slipped perfectly falling into nothing. Then they were whole again, falling side by side by the forces of gravity.
"WALLY!" he did it.
"ROB!" he actually did it.
"Fall into my arms!" Robin did as he was told and reached out for Wally hurling his body in the older teen's chest. His head slammed against him, and it hurt, but the speedster didn't care. He wrapped his arms around him holding him close. There were a million feelings going through his body again tonight. The difference this time, they were of pride, relief, and just pure happiness of being able to hold Robin close and save him too.
Kid Flash than suddenly remember the other important part to their survival, "Can you release your grapple when we get closer to the ground?"
"We won't have to!" Robin told him pointing upwards, as a green skinned girl flew in and sped downwards to save them. When she got closer, she used her telekinesis and pulled them towards her to follow as she flew them out.
In unison, both of the boys smiled with huge shit eating grins at the cute alien that just saved their butts. They have never been more grateful in their lives to see her, "Miss Martian!"
"I'm so glad you're ok, I didn't know if I could find you both through all the flying dust, I'm so happy I did!" Miss Martian told them as she led them safely onto the ground, meters away from the destroyed laboratory.
"Miss M, you're amazing!" Robin laughed happily skipping around on the ground doing cartwheels. This surprised Kid Flash, considering the condition he was just in moments ago. Must have been the adrenaline rush. Then Robin did a leap over Miss Martian's head and he guessed the kid had too much sugar before the mission.
"You sure are beautiful!"Kid Flash added giving the girl a hug in gratitude, but he let go quickly once the others entered the scene. Including Conner, who looked none too happy to see him hugging his girlfriend.
Artemis pulled Wally into a hug, whispering into his ear almost whimpering, "Kid, you crazy impulsive son of a bitch." Her voice broke a few different pitches, it was clear she was worried. He felt a little guilty for making her fret.
"Got that right…" he replied, voice trailing off feeling awkward.
She squeezed harder before letting him go, she needed it more than he did really, and they both knew it. He didn't want to look her in the eye. After the way he acted, and especially because she had probably guessed what had happened between them. As he thought about this his eyes flickered over to Robin who was currently trying to calm Conner down and let him know he didn't do anything wrong. He scratched his arm sheepishly realizing he probably made the poor clone feel like a jerk for not being able to do anything for Robin.
"Kid Flash, Robin, are you two in need of any medical attention?" Aqualad asked, reminding everyone that they were still in mission mode. His tone did that to them, but he was also just concerned with their well being.
Robin walked up to him and gave the thumbs-up before replying, "I think we'll be fine Aqualad–tch! Ah… " and then grabbing his belly area almost doubling over in pain. Miss Martian quickly rushed over to help him back on his feet.
"Everyone onto the ship, we'll return to Mount Justice and let Black Canary take a look at you two. You may have broken a few ribs Robin." She told him as she felt around his body checking for any more injuries. Kid Flash stood there watching, he was just fine. Once Miss Martian finished looking at the youngest member, they all walked on into the forest back to the bio ship.
"Wow…we totally made it dude!" Robin happily chirped to Kid Flash, but he seemed a bit distracted. His expression was dull and lost. So to break him out of his trance Robin gave him a good punch to one of the bruises on the older teen's arm.
"OW!" he yelped rubbing his bicep affectionately as Robin just snickered at him. He glared down at him, but cracked a smile just happy to see his best friend alive and laughing next to him.
Best friend.
"Thanks KF." Robin stuck out a fist, and for a moment Kid Flash just stared at it before touching knuckles. He kind of just wanted to…
Robin than pulled him closer and wrapped both arms around him, "Of course Rob, I'd never leave you behind," …hug.
The younger teen pulled away and gave a nod. Robin was just about to start walking with the rest of the team when a hand on his shoulder pulled him back, "Hey Rob." It was Wally, and he sounded hopeful. Something was up, and something in his gut told him he knew exactly what was coming. He has been anticipating it, he did secretly wish for the boy to remember too.
Dick stopped and looked at the ground, "Yeah KF?"
The older boy cleared his throat, "Do you know what today is?" His whole body froze, he was waiting for this, but now that it was actually happening he wasn't sure what to really think of it all. He sucked in his lips in contemplation of how to respond. Could he really just say to Wally that he knew it was the day he confessed two years ago and he knew because he thought about it every day this year? No. So instead…
"Uh…Sunday?" …he played stupid.
"A year later." Wally told him, almost angrily. He knew the game Robin was trying to pull, but he wasn't going to buy it. He wasn't that gullible, he was a science geek after all.
Dick scratched his head and held a meek smile, "We just got done with a mission."
Wally turned him to face him and put two firm hands on his shoulders. Robin was starting to get to his height, but not quite yet. The red head was still a good three or four inches taller. "And I thought I was going to lose you. I've also been waiting this whole time; I need to know, now." His voice was filled with desperation, with wishing, with wanting. Dick knew if he looked him in the eye there's no way he could say 'No', so that's why he didn't.
"KF…you just got out of a relationship." Robin half whispered, he didn't mean to say it quietly. But saying it aloud, he didn't realize it would bother him more. It made his chest throb with something different from the feeling he got before when he thought about it. It wasn't a burning sort of feeling or sickly; it was a tingling heavy sort of one that pulled at your insides. He was…
"I know but–"…hurt, filled the young boy's face. Wally's lips trembled as he realized, he screwed up. He looked away feeling ashamed. More than ever, he wanted to hold Dick closer, but he had no right to and it could potentially ruin everything. He let go of his grip on the shorter boy's shoulders and let his arms swing lifelessly against his body.
Dick took a slow and deep breath before continuing, sadness that was soft and bitter creeping into his words, "And we can't just risk everything now when you're probably just on the rebound right now. Plus, you'd hurt Artemis if you did this. "
"But Rob–" Wally started to plead, but Dick stopped him.
"No Wally. You need time to yourself." He told him, feet firm to the ground in a sure stance. Wally shook his head, eyebrows furrowed, as he started to fall apart.
He almost got to his knees to beg, almost, "I'm not on the rebound though!"
There was a force in Dick now that made it ok for him to look Wally in the eye and tell him 'no'. This feeling was like being uplifted and made you feel light. "Are you really willing to risk our friendship on a whim that you may be just caught up in the moment?" He challenged, he was feeling pride. He wasn't going to compromise his feelings today. Not for someone who could not wait – Even if it was his best friend.
Wally stared back at him, long and hard, his pupils quivering and getting dewy, "No."
"Exactly. They're gonna wonder why we're not on the bio ship yet. Let's go." Dick turned on his heel not wanting to give the red head another chance to talk. It was better this way if they ended the whole chase now. It was just not going to work.
"I want a year."
Dick stopped in his tracks "…What?"
"You always ask me for a year now I'm asking you." The other boy stated, with a tremble in both his lips and his words as he struggled to speak straight sentences.
The dark haired boy lowered his gaze to the boots on their feet as he started to explain without crying out to the boy who was currently frustrating him, "Yeah, but you still saw other people the first time. Then, you jumped into a serious relationship with Artemis. If you can't even do one year without doing either maybe we're just not mea–"
Wally snatched his face and lifted it up to look at his in a snap, "Don't. Say it." Green pupils continued to quiver and tear, but they spoke to him in a way that was clear.
"But Wally…"
He tugged his face and chin harder, his gloved fingers rubbing at his pale skin, "Don't say we're not meant to be. Please…" there was despair as he spoke every word, and so much god damn hope it was hard to just give up when this boy, he had to be so god damn…so hopeful.
Dick still had to argue back though, "You could never wait, even when you asked me to."
"I know. I've been really stupid. But I want just one more chance to prove myself." And even though he did, Wally would still fight back too.
"Prove what?" he asked in a harsh whisper
"Prove that I want this more than I've wanted anything before." He replied with confidence
They stood like that for a bit, just Dick looking up at Wally as the other boy had taken hold of his face and refused to let go. The air between them was tense, it was awkward. Dick had been holding his breath as he always did whenever they talked about this. He shut his eyes for a full second imagining the different possibilities of both outcomes that could happen depending on what he decided. But then he decided there was really only one way to answer Wally.
"Even more than to be Flash's sidekick?" With a joke.
Wally looked at him flabbergasted for second before it clicked and he grinned at him letting go of his face, "Dude, this really the time for jokes? Real mature."
"Oh, and you're a mature seventeen." Dick bit back affectionately, and they both laughed remembering that fight they had. It was when Robin had been failing the team as leader on one of their first missions.
Wally than smiled at him with seriousness in his green orbs, "No, I haven't been…but I can show you I can be. You trust me right?"
Dick replied in the best way he could, "I trusted you with my secret identity before anyone knew." Un-subconsciously touching his mask.
"Then you can trust me when I say I won't fail you this time." And Robin believed him.
"I have your word?" he asked.
"You have my word." Kid Flash responded.
"No matter what happens?"
"No matter what."
"Deal."
.
xX. Don't say we're not meant to be .Xx
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Author's Note: Alright! Please review and let me know what you thought! I love replying and answering questions!